I Took a $3,000 Photography Course on a Cruise Ship. Was It Worth It?
It’s not often you get the opportunity to photograph a lone male polar bear walking along a beach or a mother and her two cubs walking high up in a hill overlooking a fjord.
Or what if you spot a whale in Alaska or Greenland, – you’ll need to be ready, with a half-decent camera, to get a shot of one breaching.
On a wildlife expedition cruise, this is what passengers have paid to come and see. While most adventure cruises have a pro photographer onboard to teach the basics, some passengers have the drive to delve deeper, so you’ll likely have to enroll on a course.
That’s why Seabourn has launched Image Masters, an immersive photography course that will teach you everything you need to know about capturing that fleeting moment.
Launched in August on Seabourn Venture, the $3,000 course does not come cheap, but it does include photographer-led Zodiac tours and walks; lectures and workshops; 1:1 mentoring and coaching sessions; private lab hours with lightroom access and a photographer-hosted dinner.
Feedback so far has been great and the plan is to roll out Image Masters on Seabourn Pursuit, the line’s other 264-passenger expedition ship, this fall, according to Robin West, VP and General Manager of Expeditions.
“The ship was built with a photo studio in mind. It was always our intention to offer Image Masters,” West explains.
“Photography is an integral part of expedition and offering Image Masters really allows our keen photographers to get even more out of their expedition experience.”
I recently returned from an 11-day Eastern Greenland and Iceland expedition cruise with Seabourn where I enrolled on the course, which is open to just 10 people per cruise.
So is the intensive photography immersion worth $3,000? I joined to find out what it was all about.
Upfront Costs Are High for the Image Masters Course
I first found out about the course from a mailing from Seabourn, which said: “Your Exclusive Invitation to Join Image Masters: Seabourn’s New Photography Masterclass”, and it piqued my interest.
I had no idea of the cost of the course (it was not advertised on the mailing), nor what it entailed, when I first contacted Seabourn to find out if I could join.
When I got onboard and found out that it wasn’t fully subscribed, I enquired at Guest Relations whether my wife could also join, thinking perhaps it might be a few hundred dollars. When I was told the price, I have to be honest I was a little taken aback.
Even though I was being hosted as a guest of Seabourn, $3k is a lot of money to drop on an 11-day course.
I also wondered how I’d get value from the course when our days on the expedition cruise were already packed. Would taking the course mean that I’d have to skip other lectures or activities?
The time commitment is significant – there is at least one lecture a day, sometimes two, so you are looking at a minimum of 11 hours, plus hour-long 1:1s most days, if you choose; editing time in the Studio (as short or as long as you like) and of course the longer Zodiac cruises, which start earlier and end later and the same for the hikes.
Image Masters Was Not Full, But this Was the First Ever Course
Image Masters is run by the ebullient and encouraging John Shedwick and has been put together by him and another pro-snapper Colin Tennant. John is a professional videographer & photographer based in the Lake District, in England, who shoots all over the world. Colin is one half of Coulson & Tennant, an award winning artist partnership who develop projects through a lens-based practice, combining genres of documentary and fine art.
Maybe because it is so new – my 11-day East Greenland and Iceland cruise hosted the first ever Image Masters – the total number of guests was seven, including me: a travel agent couple from Texas; a family of three and a solo traveler. Perhaps this will pick up (it is limited to 10), although the price point may be putting people off.
The couple and Stephanie (the solo) stayed the course, attending pretty well every session; the family of three dipped in and out. I did the best I could to attend, but work commitments precluded me attending the bulk of classes.
I spoke to my fellow participants as to why they signed up. The couple from Austin signed up because Wendy had always wanted to learn more about photography and how to get a better understanding of how to take a great picture; Ted joined because Wendy did.
Stepanie joined for similar reasons to Wendy, and also, partly I gathered, because she was traveling on her own and felt this would be great to fill her time and meet new people.
I didn’t get the opportunity to ask Brian and his wife and son, Ethan, why they had joined, but my feeling is it was more to enjoy the extended rides and semi-VIP treatment.
What Type of Camera Should I Bring on the Image Masters Course?
I brought an old Canon DSLR, with a standard lens, but personally I would invest in a decent DSLR camera with a zoom lens for wildlife. The standard lens is extremely limited, good for wide shots and static landscape; no good for wildlife.
For example, compare what I shot on my basic D-SLR (above), where you can just make out three white dots below the large shadow, to what John shot with his zoom (below).
John made the point that you can get by with an iPhone or an Android, and indeed one of the guests brought a lens for his iPhone, but it does limit you on wildlife shots.
Image Masters Fits Round Your Timetable
The first thing that struck me when I joined on day one, was how helpful and accommodating John and Colin were.
They emphasized time and again that they would work around people’s commitments, so for example if you were kayaking that morning, you could catch up on the course in the afternoon and vice versa.
Same with the 1:1s, John left a sign-up sheet with hour-long slots all day for participants, again to fit round your day.
Also, it’s worth noting that everything stopped for wildlife (as is the case across the ship) – so when a bear or a whale was spotted, we all grabbed cameras and iPhones and headed to the open deck mid-lecture.
Another top tip: Keep your phone with you at all times, not only for shots but as you’ll be the first to know if wildlife has been spotted via a WhatsApp message from John or Colin.
John and Colin were always around – at all times of day and night – to help you with your camera, adjust the settings for wildlife, night shots or landscape shots, and help you frame and shoot – both on deck and afterward, in the studio.
We also became prepared for early starts and late finishes – the Image Masters Zodiacs are the first out and last in. One of the best examples of this was the day when we were due to do a hike on a remote island, this was canceled because someone had spotted a polar bear – and who got out first to see it? Yup, the Image Masters. Same with the first bears, spotted high up on a hill by the Captain – the Image Masters Zodiac stayed out longer and was the first out.
If You Want to Learn How to Take Your Best Shot, This Course is For You
John can get as deep into the weeds about F-stops, ISOs and aperture sizes as the class demands (and does). This Image Masters course is primarily about capturing the extraordinary beauty of the cruise. While you need some technical knowledge to become a better photographer, John and Colin have a knack of making it simple and easy to remember.
They also help you understand your camera. If like me, you never read the instructions or looked at YouTube to get to know how to operate something, then I’d recommend this course just to learn how to operate your DSLR.
Did I know there was a semi-auto mode? No. Presets? No? Multiple shots mode? Yes, but I’d never figured out where the preset was.
Colin sat with me and patiently ran through every aspect of my camera menu, giving me confidence on how best to set it up – for wildlife shots, landscape and shots where light was scarce. I’d say that level of 1:1 tutoring was (almost) worth the cost of the entire course!
You Learn How to Edit Your Images
Apart from re-sizing and putting on Insta filters, I have never edited an image before. I’m guessing many people reading this piece are the same.
So being able to sit down with Colin and work on an image, learning how to adjust light, learning to shoot in “Raw”, and deleting extraneous objects (bald heads, random posters), was a revelation.
I struggled a little to reconcile the essential truth of an image (“the camera never lies”) and my journalistic ethics with editing images, but at least I now know how to get rid of photo-bombers – and ugly posters on the side of buildings (see before and after, above).
We also had plenty of opportunity to ask questions – the guys were a wealth of knowledge and loved to impart that to guests.
You Get the VIP Treatment on Image Masters
The VIP treatment isn’t limited to the special Zodiac tours. The Image Masters land trips also focused on having time to take pictures, rather than having to keep up with a larger group. When I was on the regular walks, we were told by the Expedition Team that this was not a photography walk and we couldn’t hang around to take pics.
The hosted dinner with the photographers at the end was a lovely touch, a chance to talk about what we’d seen and learned over the past 11 days.
I spoke to Ted and Wendy, the travel agents, about what they had got out of it and both agreed it had been worth it.
“Image masters has been more than a photography class. It is a photography experience,” she said.
“I was taught on my level with my equipment and my pictures have improved more than I could have dreamed they would. I have loved the extra time on board the Zodiacs and on shore which gave me the time to really learn and practice new skills. Image Masters have made this cruise memorable and one I will never forget”.
Ted agreed: “If you want to double your time on the Zodiacs, double your time on shore, immerse yourself in the experience, and learn how to capture and enhance it all with whatever equipment you have, join Image Masters. It’s worth every penny”
Stephanie agreed that for someone traveling alone, having a ready-made group of friends and a daily focus made this ideal for solos.
And for Brian and his family, it was more about the exclusive aspect of the Zodiac cruises that really appealed:
“Such an amazing experience. After the landing sites were secured by advance scouts, our Zodiac was first out with early access to the most sublime scenes of hundreds of icebergs and more glaciers that I’ve seen in my life.
“Polar bears, musk ox, arctic foxes and sea birds. Flora and fauna beyond any expectation in the most stark and beautiful scenery that anyone could imagine.”
He added: “On the Zodiacs, the photographers leading the workshop were world class and accessible at every turn and query and worked easily with the skilled amateur with pro equipment to guests with camera phones.”
Summary: Is the Special Photography Course Worth $3,000?
This is an ideal course for people deeply interested in photography, as Brent Carroll attested:
“I think paying for Image Masters was some of the best money I have ever spent in my life and did more for photography skills than anything I have tried before.”
But to get the most out of it, be prepared to attend at least daily for an hour or two. If you really want to learn, it’s pointless without committing to this as a minimum.
It’s too much of a commitment if you are part of a couple and one opts to do it, as not only would you be spending time apart in the day, you would also be traveling on different Zodiacs.
So is it worth $3,000? If you are prepared to put in the time, have a deep interest in photography, want to get that perfect shot, then absoultely.